Dungeons and Devils: The Hell Edition
by Demonized AO3
Summary: It was supposed to a way for them to bond without having to resort to violence. Instead they find themselves within the game of Dungeons and Dragons with no sure way out except to complete the campaign.
1. Lost Mine of Phandelver 01

It had been an innocent suggestion that Nero had made. Something that the three of them could bond over without having to resort to physical violence. It involved a lot of books, following rules, a fair amount of time and, most importantly, patience. Dante had a distinct knack for not following the rules, on top of lacking patience, which frustrated both his older twin, Vergil, **and** Nero.

(Nero once again proved that he was Vergil's son by leveling a glare that only the elder twin had perfected onto Dante while his spectral wings manifested. Vergil was content to sit back and watch his son cow Dante into behaving and following the damned rules.)

Once everything had finally been set up and their character sheets readied what equated to a small earthquake rocked the occupants of Devil May Cry. The lights flickered and then went out, leaving the men of Sparda's blood in total darkness. Another earthquake, this one stronger, shook them and then the floor fell out.

Vergil came to with something disgustingly wet being run over his face and jerked away from the creature that had assaulted him. He successfully rolled onto his feet and glowered at what appeared to be some sort of quadrupedal mammalian while Dante, who had witnessed the entire thing, guffawed. His gaze snapped to his brother, the red-clad half-demon bent over as he laughed, and he started to draw Yamato from her sheath.

"Whoa! Wait a minute!" Nero suddenly appeared in front on Vergil, hands raised to show that he was unarmed, and put himself between his father and uncle. "I know you're angry, that Dante can be quite irritating, but we need to figure out what is going on."

As _irritating_ as Dante could be—though Vergil would probably choose a much different descriptor for his twin—Nero had made quite the point. They had no idea where they were nor how they had gotten to where here was. A glance around only gleaned that they were on a dirt road with a steep incline on one side and both sides were lined with trees. Behind them was a cart that two of those creatures—the one on his right being responsible for having licked him—were pulling while ahead of them were what appeared to be two dead horses.

"This can't be right," Nero muttered under his breath as he too looked around, ignoring Dante who was still busy laughing. "This is…the setup for the Dungeons and Dragons campaign we were going to do."

_That_ got Dante's attention, to the point that he went silent and straightened up. "Whatcha mean by that?" He looked around as well, mouth twisted into a frown, then fixed his gaze on Nero. "This is that game?" There was a note of disbelief in his voice as he asked that and Vergil almost wanted to sigh. The eldest of the three chose to wipe his face off instead.

"Yeah, this is the start of the campaign with the goblin ambush." Both Dante and Vergil stiffened at the mention of an ambush and looked around again. They couldn't sense or see anything out of the ordinary but if Nero was certain of it then they couldn't let their guard down. "It's supposed to spring when we approach the horses over there," Nero added after noticing their tension.

"Is that so?" Vergil tightened his grasp on Yamato then finally drew her as he started for the horse corpses . Dante followed him, drawing the Devil Sword Dante, and Nero joined them as second layer with the Red Queen in hand.

"There's two on each side," Nero informed them quietly and discreetly pointed out the locations of the four goblins that were attempting to ambush them. How Vergil and Dante had missed them was troubling, as if their senses had been dulled, which they would have to question Nero about once they have dealt with the goblins.

Said goblins revealed themselves but with the element of surprise taken away Vergil was the first to strike, only for Yamato's blade to bounce off of the armor that the closest goblin was wearing. Nero had no better luck against the same goblin, instead receiving a slash with a scimitar from that one in return for his troubles.

On the incline one of the goblins pulled out a short bow and took aim at Dante. It scored the red-clad half demon who hissed in pain and then raced up the incline to swipe at the goblin that had hit him. Dante's attack missed by several inches, slicing through the air above the goblin's head instead.

The third goblin, who was behind the one that Nero and Vergil were flanking, attempted to slash at the older of the two, only for Vergil to twist out of the way. His twin, however, had no such luck as the fourth and final goblin drew its scimitar and struck him across the leg. "Hey, kid, this is hurting a lot more than it should!"

Vergil was finally able to land a hit, the goblin impossibly surviving a blow from Yamato, only for Nero to finish it off with the Red Queen. "We're not healing! I think Nico did something to the game!" The youngest called out, the news terrible in light of the damage that they were receiving.

Dante struck down the goblin in front of him as it tried to change its short bow for a scimitar and then scowled in his nephew's direction. "What does she have to do with this?"

"I got all of the Dungeons and Dragons stuff from her so I'm thinking she did something to the game," Nero answered as Vergil danced out of reach of the scimitar that the remaining goblin on their side tried to slash him with.

"I hate to break it to ya, kid, but if we're in the game then there's no thinkin' she did somethin' to it. Gotta hand it to her though, this is kinda fun," Dante returned as he just barely dodged the swipe of his remaining goblin's blade.

"Of course you would find getting sucked into a game _fun_," Vergil half-snarled as he decapitated the second to last goblin.

The final goblin started to turn and flee as Nero dashed across the road and up the incline in an attempt to take it out. Red Queen missed by a hair's breadth only for Devil Sword Dante to impale the goblin, killing it. "Hey! We needed to get information from that one!" Nero cried out as Dante pulled his sword free and the goblin corpse crumpled to the ground.

"Didn't you read this part?" The red-clad half-demon inquired, wincing slightly from the sting of his wounds. "Man, that hurts. How are we supposed to heal up?"

"By taking a short or a long rest if we are to go by the game rules." Vergil was the one to respond instead of Nero, his tone dry as he flicked his wrist and got most of the blood off of Yamato's blade. "Our abilities have been severely reduced," he added as he examined his sword with a scowl then wiped it off on the nearest downed goblin's armor. "Yamato will not be able to free us from this. She has been affected by whatever that accursed woman has done."

"_Damnit, Nico_… Okay, so we're stuck in the campaign, this one being The Lost Mine of Phandelver, and knowing Nico we'll probably have to complete it. I only read up to the end of Cragmaw Hideout, which is at the end of that trail over there, so anything after that we are all in the dark on." Nero pointed out the rather well hidden trail that they were supposed to head down, looking only a little better than his uncle did. "We should take a short rest first because we'll have more fighting to do once we reach the Cragmaw Hideout."

"Sounds good to me," Dante replied with a carefree tone and an easy grin as he slid down the incline to reach the road. He made a beeline straight for the cart while Vergil gave a subtle roll of his eyes and sheathed Yamato.

"I guess I should get a little rest too." Nero hadn't been as badly hurt as Dante but he had to wonder if they should maybe head to town instead of camping out on the road. At least in town they could get a long rest and deliver the goods with them so that they wouldn't have to worry about them later. He decided against it after giving his father a glance, the elder half-demon now staring off in the direction of the trail with a hand rested on Yamato's hilt. "We'll rest for an hour and then head down the trail."

Vergil silently inclined his head to acknowledge his son, barely sparing him or Dante a glance, and paced the width of the road with the intention to stand guard. Nero watched him for a moment before he traversed back down the incline and joined Dante, who was already asleep, in the cart.


	2. Lost Mine of Phandelver 02

"You've both had your hour's rest," Vergil intoned flatly as he not so gently woke up his brother and son with the sheathed Yamato. Nero, not used to how the oldest of Sparda's blood could be, grumbled and glowered while Dante gave a leisurely stretch before he got up from where he'd been resting inside of the cart. "We need to move before the goblins come and investigate their missing numbers."

"They won't," Nero half-muttered at which Dante snorted and Vergil's lips thinned.

"Kiddo, this ain't some sort of thing you have control over anymore. They ain't gonna wait for us to mosey up to 'em just cuz it's supposed to happen a certain way." Dante brought out his namesake Devil Sword as he jumped out of the cart and scanned the road before he started down it. "Seems like we're in the clear."

"There's been no sign of movement from the trail," Vergil added as he shifted his grip on Yamato and walked alongside his twin in the direction of the hidden trail. "It is safe to assume that it will be trapped or that there will be more goblins lying in wait for us along it."

Nero couldn't argue the point that his uncle had brought up, that the goblins just wouldn't sit around and wait for them, and followed after him and his father. "There _are_ two traps on the trail, the first one a snare trap that we'll encounter after ten minutes of walking, and the second one is a pit trap another ten minutes down the trail."

Neither Vergil nor Dante gave any indication that they heard him, leaving Nero to scowl at their backs as they left the road and went onto the trail. He dropped back a few paces, letting them stay ahead of him, and observed them in the quiet that settled over the three of them. He found that he couldn't read either of them—which was expected of his father but not of Dante—and he largely suspected it was due to their time in Hell.

The silence continues on until Nero is certain that they have reached the snare trap where Dante and Vergil both swung their respective blades without even pausing to stop. He didn't see the rope until it was laying on the ground in pieces, the trap effectively disarmed, and was surprised that he hadn't been able to notice it even though he knew about it. He eyed the severed pieces of the rope as he passed by them, slowing down as he did so while his father and uncle pulled further ahead.

They were oblivious to the change in Nero's pace as they continued on, intent on the fight that laid in wait for them at the end of the trail. The pit trap was almost child's play for them to spot and they passed around it with ease, still unaware that the youngest of their party had fallen behind. Suffice to say, even if they had noticed they wouldn't have cared nor would they have waited, forcing Nero to jog in order to catch up.

It took the younger demon hybrid a few minutes to catch up, including a successful avoidance of the undisturbed pit trap, and they still hadn't noticed that he had fallen behind. He scowled at their backs for all of a few seconds then cleared his throat quite loudly to garner their attention. "Do either of you even care to know what's in store for us at the Cragmaw Hideout?"

"Not particularly," Vergil answered in a rather flat tone, not even seeing fit to spare his son a glance.

Nero found himself scowling again, gaze narrowed as he looked at his father. After a few seconds, he shifted his gaze to Dante, his uncle shooting him a devilish grin. It was all he needed to know that neither of them wanted to take advantage of what he knew, which chafed quite a bit. "Just don't go rushing in once we get to the Hideout," he finally grits out. It was going to be a slog regardless, especially with their abilities so limited, so them knowing what they were up against didn't matter too much.

"We'll be fine, kiddo," Dante assured him then amicably nudged his shoulder against his brother's. "Isn't that right, bro?"

Vergil gave a sigh that was drawn out before he paused and turned to look at his brother and then his son. "Yes, we will be fine so long as we proceed with caution." His gaze shifted back to Dante as he spoke and there seemed to be a weight to his words that was meant for his brother alone.

"There's no winnin' with either of ya," Dante exclaimed as he threw up his hands. "Fine, we'll be _careful_."

"There is nothing to **win**, Dante," Vergil stated rather pointedly. "This might have been a game before when it was just a bunch of papers and dice but to continue to consider it as such would be a dire mistake. Our lives could be at stake for all we know and we need to proceed accordingly."

"Yeah, yer right," Dante conceded after a beat of silence then looked down the trail in the direction they'd been heading. "We should probably sneak in or somethin'."

"We'll want to do the sneaking when we reach the hideout in about twenty minutes." Nero was glad that they could at least agree on being careful, even if it took some convincing on his uncle's part. It was better than nothing, at the very least.

They continued down the trail in silence, carefully picking their way over the fallen branches and leaves once they got closer to the trail's end. From the edge of the clearing that the trail opened up into they could hear the burble of the stream that flowed out of the cave mouth in the hillside that served as the Cragmaw Hideout, and just beyond the stream was the briar thicket. On that same side of the stream was a narrow, dry path that leads into the cave.

"That would be an ideal spot to launch an ambush from," Vergil stated in a low whisper as he studied the thicket. His gaze dropped down to the stream, which he regarded for a moment, and then he turned his attention to Nero, who was geared in heavier armor, with a frown. "Dante and I will cross first and make sure that it's clear on the other side."

Nero gave his own frown and looked down at his armor—chainmail—then considered the situation at hand. He had the potential to make far more noise as he crossed the stream, and he knew that there were, at the very least, two Goblins hiding in the little alcove the briar thicket made. Drawing their attention—which they currently lacked—would be bad all around. "I'll keep watch on the cave from over here," he finally acquiesced.

"Sounds good ta me," Dante chimed in and readied his Devil Sword. He followed Vergil's lead across the stream while Nero stayed back and together the both of them managed to not make a sound. As they came around the edge of the thicket he paused beside his brother at the sight of two very inattentive Goblins. With barely a glance and a silent nod of agreement to his twin, they both moved in perfect unison towards the would-be guards.

Their swords sang as they arced through the air and embedded themselves in their intended targets. The Goblin that the younger of the two had struck immediately crumpled to the ground dead while Vergil's staggered at Yamato's impact. It was just barely alive, bleeding heavily from its neck where the katana had tried to cleave through, and very surprised.

The Goblin turned towards them and attempted to draw its scimitar but Dante was faster, striking its head from its shoulders. As the head rolled away the younger half-demon planted his Devil Sword in the soil and grinned at his twin. "Looks like yer losing yer touch, Verge," he teased.

"Am I, brother?" Vergil asked, appearing unruffled by his twin's jab. He sheathed Yamato and stepped closer to Dante, well within his personal boundaries, to grab the collar of his leather armor that bore a resemblance to his favored red jacket. He pulled his brother close and leaned in, just barely touching his lips to Dante's. "We shall have to see about that when we get to town," he whispered, his mouth slanted into a smirk. "And we shall make it to town, brother."

They pulled apart at the sound of splashing and turned just as Nero appeared behind them. He immediately gave them a look, brows drawn together and his mouth twisted slightly into a scowl, then glanced down at the slain Goblins. "If you're done making out then can we get a move on?"

"Making out would require us to be kissing and that was definitely _not_ a kiss," Dante complained and wrenched his sword out of the earth. He pouted when Vergil ignored him to head into the cave, leaving Nero to frown at him. "You interrupted us before we could!"

"Not that I care about you and my dad…_fucking_, which I really don't want to imagine, we have more shit to kill. Whine later." Nero gave his uncle a pointed look then followed his father into the cave.


	3. Goblins, Wolves and Bugbears, Oh My

Dante grumbled under his breath as he followed his brother and nephew into the cave where they were paused just a few feet inside. There was an opening in the cave wall, the sounds of nasty snarling and snapping coming from it that reminded the red clad half demon of when he had fought Cerberus and King Cerberus. "That sounds pleasant."

"Indeed." Vergil gave Dante a sideways glance, his expression thoughtful, then turned to peer back into the opening in the wall. "There are three beasts chained up. We _could_ ignore them completely, which may or may not work in our favor, slaughter them or subdue them."

Dante edged past his nephew on the narrow path and leaned around his brother to peer in at the _beasts_, mangy and matted wolves that were chained down to the base of a stalagmite. "I say we kill 'em," he supplied after a few seconds of examining them.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Nero asked a little wearily. He knew that subduing the wolves could be made easier but it was more than clear that his father and uncle were set on moving through this their way.

"There's three of us and three of them. It'll be a piece of cake." Dante shot his nephew a self-assured grin then edged past his brother and moved up onto the steps leading into the wolves little alcove. Even though it smelled absolutely horrendous he readied Devil Sword Dante and slashed at the wolf directly in the center. The wolf recoiled with a loud yelp as it's chest was scored open by Devil Sword Dante. The wound was a heavy one, blood gushing out, but the wolf remained standing. It tried to attack in response but it's jaws snapped shut on open air as Dante just barely managed to evade.

"Careful there, little brother," Vergil warned as he entered the cavern and covered Dante's left flank. Yamato sang as Vergil swung her diagonally and caught the left wolf across its chest. This wolf gave a high-pitched cry of its own and collided into the side of the wolf Dante had injured. It was too stunned to make an attempt to attack Vergil in retaliation, it's blood splattering on the ground.

Nero joined them, taking up Dante's right flank, and tried to drive Red Queen into the wolf on the right. His weapon hit true, slicing through fur, skin and sinew, but the wolf managed to survive, just barely. It growled, the sound pained and angry, and lunged for Nero only to come up short as Nero moved just out of its reach.

"Tch, I'm fine, Verge. Worry 'bout yerself," Dante half-grumbled and brought Devil Sword Dante around to lop the middle wolf's head off. It's body crumpled to the ground, the chain that had been around its neck rattling noisily as it too hit the ground.

Vergil gave a faint, noncommittal hum in response and impaled the wolf in front of him through the throat. Yamato came out through the back of the wolf's neck and the creature slumped over dead. With one quick motion Vergil pulled Yamato free, right as Nero sliced off the final wolf's head. With the battle over they all take a moment to collect themselves and Vergil examines the chamber the wolves were being kept in.

Vergil's gaze was drawn to the narrow opening in the east wall, a natural chimney of sorts, that had a small pile of rubbish at the bottom of it. "Where does that go?" He asked in a low tone as he motioned towards the fissure.

"That leads to Klarg's Cave. He's the _boss_ of Cragmaw Hideout so he'll be a bit tougher than what we've faced so far but if we can climb up that then we could surprise him and his subordinates," Nero explained as he looked towards the fissure.

"Huh." Dante put his Devil Sword away and stepped around the wolf corpses to make his way over to the base of the fissure. "So we just climb up this and we can fight the boss?"

"That is what Nero said, Dante," Vergil remarked dryly as he flicked the blood off of Yamato before he sheathed her.

Dante rolled his eyes then stepped up onto the small pile of rubbish to start climbing. He made the entire climb to the top look quite easy, his footing never once slipping, and crouched down just behind one of the two stalagmites that jutted up in front of the fissure opening. Neither the two goblins by the fire pit in the center of the cave nor the wolf and strange creature at the far end of the cave seemed to notice him, so he took a few seconds to look around the rest of the cave while he waited for Vergil and Nero to join him.

Vergil scowled, mostly to himself, as he watched Dante's ascent. He refrained from saying anything further, if only because there was nothing else for him to say, and made his way over to the rubbish pile at the base of the fissure. He did wrinkle his nose a bit at having to step on the refuse of the creatures inhabiting this cavern system and quickly climbed up the fissure after Dante. Vergil made the climb with as much ease as his brother had and just as silently crouched down behind the second stalagmite.

Nero gave a shake of his head once he was alone and put away Red Queen as he walked over to the base of the fissure. He examined it with a bit of uncertainty, if only because he was wearing armor and he wasn't used to it, before he started to climb. His worry was apparently unfounded as he made the climb to the top without any trouble and came out into Klarg's cave surprisingly without making a sound. He crouched down by Dante, since there was more room by him, and all three of them brought out their weapons.

"Me and Verge'll take out the goblins first." Dante motioned towards the pair of goblins by the fire pit, the creatures still unaware of their presence. "Then we can work on taking out the big guy and the wolf."

Nero gave a silent nod in response and with that Vergil and Dante crept from their hiding spots, Nero a step behind them, and towards the goblins. In one swift and smooth stroke from their respective weapons the goblins were decapitated, their bodies slumping over towards the fire while their heads rolled off, which unfortunately drew the attention of the strange creature and the wolf.

"Who dares to attack Klarg?" The strange creature, Klarg, rose to its feet with that bellow as it drew a scimitar, seemingly unconcerned with the loss of the two goblins. Beside Klarg the wolf stood and snarled, its lips pulled back to reveal its fangs.

Vergil darted across the rest of the cavern, closing the distance between himself and Klarg within a matter of seconds, and swung Yamato up across Klarg's chest. A nasty gash was left in Yamato's wake, blood splattering across Vergil's face while Klarg shrank back with an angry roar.

Nero moved in, deciding to tackle the wolf, and slashed down at it with the Red Queen. He scored the wolf across the muzzle and one of its eyes, making it recoil with a noise that was a cross between a yelp and a snarl.

"C'mon, ugly." Dante joined them barely a second later, taking up a position on Klarg's flank, and swiped up along Klarg's side, Devil Sword Dante briefly scraping along the cave floor and casting off sparks.

Klarg gave a pained scream as his side was carved open, the wound several inches deep, then rounded on Dante with his teeth bared. "Klarg will have your head, puny human!" He raised his scimitar with a snarl and swung down hard, aiming for Dante's neck.

It missed, instead bouncing off of the flat of Devil Sword Dante as Dante brings it up to guard. "You'll have ta try harder than that."

The wolf gave a shake of its head, as if to shake off the pain it was reeling from, then snarled menacingly. It lunged towards Nero and bit down onto his arm, its fangs sinking into his skin as it found an opening in his armor.

Nero jerked back with a pained grunt, just managing to not trip over his feet as he snatched his arm from the jaws of the wolf. "Damn, that really hurts."

Vergil glanced towards Nero from the corner of his eye then shifted his focus back to Klarg and brought Yamato up across Klarg's chest in the opposite direction so that the creature had an x now carved into its chest. Klarg reared back and roared in pain, looking heavily damaged but still standing, though just barely.

Nero shifted his grip on the Red Queen then brought it up as he stepped in towards the wolf and swung. He struck true and the blade sunk halfway into the wolf's neck, killing it immediately. With just a little effort he pulled his sword free, the blood on it glistening in the low firelight from the pit behind them.

Before Klarg could even register the death of his wolf companion Dante attacked him, this time plunging his Devil Sword into the creature's side. He very nearly bisected Klarg entirely, its body just barely held together by its spinal column, then took a step back as he wrenched his sword free and lets its body crumple to the ground. "What the hell was this thing?"

"_That_," Nero began as he flexed the fingers to the hand of his injured arm with a slight wince. "-is a bugbear and this particular one should have a stash with some healing potions around here."


End file.
